The present invention relates to the control of a device that executes prescribed functions. In particular, it targets the field of security in which access to all types of devices is controlled using information such as an access control list (ACL). The present invention further relates to technology that can be applied in fields such as entry and exit management, theft prevention, and goods management.
Conventional access control methods in distributed systems in which a multiplicity of devices are located include the method described in European Patent Application No. 99307937.5 (EP 0 992 873 A2). In this method, access was controlled to suit user attributes by providing a distributed access control list (ACL) for each device within the system. The work involved in settings was reduced and setting errors prevented by enabling settings to be made without having to login each time to the computer for which the settings were required.
However, one of the limitations of the above conventional technology was that, in situations in which, for example in an office building visited by various users, entry was prohibited into restricted areas that housed important objects but allowed in other cases, conventional standardized access control suffered because of the time delays that occurred after settings relating to the access levels of operators and managers were altered or requests were made to change user settings.